Warning: Gets a little steamy at one point but I've not gone into too much detail (still best to put a warning to be on the safe side though ;) )
~.~.~.~.~.~
Jenny was not having a good day. All night the baby had been coughing and crying (apparently even Silurian children couldn't stay calm when they were ill) and so Jenny hadn't slept a wink. It had been futile even considering asking for Vastra to take a turn, the Silurian was more use to the girl well rested anyway, so up until six o'clock that morning Jenny had been sat in the drawing room with Aria attempting everything she could think of to try and make her poor little angel feel better. Thankfully the baby had calmed down around six and Jenny had put her to bed in the hope that she would at least get some rest but she had given up on the hope of resting herself.
Unfortunately, the rest of her day did not take a turn for the better. It had been a month since Aria had been born and, although Jenny had got on top of the general cleaning of the house once more, every time she left a room it felt as though she would come back to an explosion of toys and clothes and other baby related objects. The maid was living in a nightmare of endless mess and at times it felt like she was back home with her parents and the Green family leaving their clutter everywhere. As soon as Jenny had put Aria back to bed she had begun attempting to clear up some of the toys from the drawing room but just as she had been getting into the swing of it and was making some progress Vastra had woken up and, knowing just how to get what she wanted, had pouted, batted her eyelids, and asked Jenny if she would mind preparing her breakfast for her. Of course, the maid had agreed and from that moment onwards every time she would start trying to do some sort of cleaning there would be one interruption or another to deal with. At half past seven, just as Jenny was finishing the clean up after breakfast Aria woke up again wanting to be fed. By the time Jenny had finally got the child back to sleep at nine o'clock (after another bout of coughing and crying) the butcher had turned up on the doorstep with a new delivery of meat for Vastra's meals and the girl had had to spend another three hours first helping to transport the meat down to the pantry and then cleaning up the mess that both the meat and the butcher himself had left all through the house. It wasn't until one o'clock after taking lunch up to Vastra in her study that Jenny finally found herself with the time to start a proper clean but she simply did not have the energy for it. She made her way up to the bedroom and had just laid her head down to try and take a nap when a soft sniffle from Aria's crib had turned to a whimper, and a whimper had turned to a cry.
"Vastra? D'you know where Aria's monkey is? I can't find it anywhere." The girl had spent most of the night while she was trying to calm her daughter searching for the stuffed monkey that the Doctor had given to them but somehow she could not find it anywhere. Jenny didn't understand how it was possible to lose something that the baby almost never let out of her sight. The toy had become a favourite of Aria's over the first month of her life and Jenny knew, even with her poor baby feeling under the weather, that it would at least stop the tears for a short while if she could only find it. She was still searching around the bedroom as she called to Vastra who was working on a case in her study.
"I cannot say that I do my love, have you looked in her crib?" Jenny thought her head might explode. Of course she had checked the crib, why would Vastra even ask such a ridiculous question? Obviously the crib was the first place the girl had looked. Jenny was trying to keep calm, really she was, but she knew that her exhaustion and stress and the hormones (which still didn't seem to have settled, much to her annoyance) were making it very difficult for her.
"It aint there! It aint anywhere!" Scooping Aria into her arms once more Jenny slowly made her way down the stairs to the second floor, being careful all the way not to slip on any of the toys that had somehow ended up on the stairs. For the life of her Jenny couldn't figure out how they had managed to accumulate so many play things for Aria. The child was only a month old and already she had ten times the amount of toys Jenny had had throughout her childhood. Clearly they had gotten far too carried away while they had been expecting the baby but Jenny was certainly finding herself regretting it now that she was trying to be a mother, partner and a maid all at once.
Reaching the Second floor Jenny turned right and made her way along the corridor. She passed three doors on her right before turning to the forth and, without knocking, she swung the door open and stepped into the room. Under normal circumstances she wouldn't have disrupted Vastra while she was working but as the girl stepped into the study and Vastra looked up from her work it was clear that the woman understood the situation. Cerulean eyes scanned first the human girl's face and then the wailing baby in her arms and Vastra sighed, placing the pen she had been writing with down on her desk.
"You look exhausted my darling." Jenny rolled her eyes but she didn't respond; she knew that if she even attempted to say anything it would only come across as sarcastic and snappy and quite frankly she was in no mood for another argument on top of everything else. Letting her eyes drop from Vastra to Aria in her arms the girl shifted the child's position so that her head was resting against her shoulder and she gently rubbed the baby's back, hoping that in some way it may clear her lungs and allow her to breathe a bit easier. "Just give me an hour or so and I will take over the mothering duties for a while."
"An hour?!" Jenny groaned. She couldn't handle another hour of the pure madness that her day had consisted of thus far - she was sure she would lose the plot entirely if she had to carry on for another hour. Aria began to blub louder and Jenny visibly stiffened, grinding her teeth together in irritation. "Darlin' I need to sleep. I've been up all night. Please, just take over for me now an' you can come back to your work later."
"Jenny, I need to finish this case at least. If I do not do it now you know I will end up leaving it until the morning."
"I don't care Vastra!" Tears welled in the girl's eyes and Jenny let herself sink into the nearest seat, keeping the baby held to her chest with one arm while she tried to dry her eyes with the other. "I let you sleep all night 'cause I know 'ow 'ard it is for you to function when you don't get enough rest but now I really need you to take your turn for me an' you're too worried about gettin' a case done! You said just the other night that they aint givin' you anythin' all that difficult at the moment so I don't understand why you're 'avin such an 'ard time with the idea of takin' a few hours off to look after your daughter!" Vastra could see immediately that arguing any further would not be a good idea. She knew that Jenny was right. She had offered to help throughout the night as soon as they had realised that Aria wasn't well but Jenny had insisted that the Silurian should get a good night's sleep, it was only fair that now Vastra should take her turn.
"Was I being insensitive again dear...?"
"Well you were 'ardly bein' considerate." Jenny's mumbled response wasn't much but it was enough for Vastra to know that the girl wasn't too upset with her. The Silurian stood from her seat and made her way over to join Jenny on the chaise longue that was a new instalment to the room. Gently Vastra extracted Aria's little body from her other mother's arms and she lifted the child so that she was lying against her own chest. As Aria's body made contact with Vastra's her crying seemed to ease and Jenny looked over at Vastra dejectedly. "'ow the 'ell did you do that?"
"We already agreed last night that she was far warmer than she should be love; I suppose my lowered body heat is just comforting in some way." Freeing one arm from holding the child Vastra wrapped it around the girl's waist and pulled her closer so that Jenny was leaning in against her other shoulder. "Although, I do not think that your mindset is helping. You have worked yourself up too much dear, you need to go and rest or you will be no good to anyone. She can sense that there is something wrong with you, it will only be making her worse." The Silurian pressed a kiss to her darling girl's head and Jenny rose to her feet wearily.
"Wake me if she gets any worse, okay?"
"Of course my love." With that Jenny leant down and kissed first Vastra and then Aria before shuffling from the room to get a well deserved rest.
~.~.~.~.~.~
There was something cool and smooth pressed against Jenny's cheek and as she opened her eyes to see what it was her gaze fell on a hazy visage of Vastra's face that seemed to be hovering not too far from her own. She wondered how long she had been asleep. It amazed Jenny that she hadn't been woken by Aria's crying, but then again it had been so long since she had had an undisturbed sleep that she was almost certain that she could have slept through an entire battle without waking. Vastra smiled down at her darling girl as she noticed her eyes beginning to open and she pressed a soft, loving kiss to Jenny's forehead.
"Good morning my sweet; or should I say good evening." The Silurian's fingers continued to caress the delicate contours of the girl's cheek as they had been doing as Vastra had watched her sleep, and Jenny turned her head to kiss the palm of the other woman's hand.
"'ello," she whispered, nuzzling her face against the cool scales of Vastra's palm as she looked up into the other woman's eyes, "'ow long 'ave I been asleep?"
"I believe it has been around seven hours, my love." Immediately Jenny's eyes widened and she sat bolt upright in the bed.
"You let me sleep for SEVEN hours?! Vastra, I 'ad things I needed to do today! Why didn't you wake me? An' what about Aria? Is she okay? God, what sort of a mother am I takin' myself off for a nap while my baby's... What's so funny?!" Vastra had tried to suppress her laughter but apparently her attempts had been futile. Jenny was looking at her with such a scowl on her face that it only made the Silurian chuckle more and although she tried she simply couldn't get the words out through her laughter. Pulling her sweet little human girl into her arms Vastra kissed all over her face (still tittering to herself between each kiss) and it wasn't until she had reached the girl's lips that she managed to get control of herself once more. The feeling of Jenny's tongue in her mouth and the girl's lips against her own seemed to focus Vastra a little more and as she pulled away Jenny noted that the laughter had finally stopped.
"You, my dear, worry too much." The Silurian pressed yet another kiss to the end of the girl's nose and she shook her head with a slight smile on her face as she pulled away. "Aria is fine, her cough loosened up and died out a few hours after you came up here and I let her nap for the rest of the day until your father turned up. He is going to take care of her for us tonight – you and I need some time to ourselves do you not think?" Jenny was about to respond but Vastra didn't give her the chance. The question had been entirely rhetorical, even if Jenny didn't realise it. "Try not to worry love; they will both still be here, they will just be giving us a little space. Now, if you would be so kind as to extract yourself from our bed, I have a few surprises for you." Jenny raised her eyebrow at the mention of a surprise and a small smirk pulled at her lips.
"Surprises? The last time you gave me a surprise we ended up on some deserted planet with the Doctor, I'd like to see 'ow you're plannin' on outdoin' yourself on that one." Jenny giggled. "You made a fatal error startin' off with such a wonderful surprise darlin', you know I'm only gonna expect them to get better an' better as time goes on." The slight musical note in the girl's voice comforted Vastra a little but to some extent Jenny's words worried her. She hadn't been aware that the reaction she would get from surprising Jenny would depend on the standard of said surprise. Sometimes she wished that humans weren't so complicated, it made it very difficult for her to understand how she could please her darling girl. Still, she had set everything up and so she was not backing out of the surprise even if it was not up to the standard Jenny would be expecting.
From the second that the two women stepped foot outside their bedroom Jenny noticed a difference in the house. The gas lamps all along the hall were lit and turned down low so that the lighting was dusky and mysterious. There wasn't a single child's toy or garment in sight and for a split second Jenny wondered if she was still asleep and dreaming of the one thing she wanted more than anything else – a clean home. It wasn't until Vastra's hand slipped into her own that Jenny snapped back to reality and, realising that it was all really happening, she allowed the Silurian to guide her down the corridor. They didn't go as far as she had been expecting, however, and Jenny was surprised as Vastra turned her to face the closed door of Aria's nursery. Quite frankly the girl had no desire to cross the threshold of the room. The last time Jenny had entered the nursery was the day that she and Vastra had been attempting to organise the room and instead they had fought and she had gone into labour. She dared not even imagine what the room would look like. Was this a part of her surprise? If so, Jenny was almost certain that Vastra must have missed the point of what a surprise was supposed to be.
"Vastra?"
"Shhh, close your eyes." Without giving the girl a second to do as she had asked Vastra placed herself directly behind Jenny and she placed her hands over her eyes. Using her tongue the Silurian opened the door and, after guiding Jenny into the centre of the room she whispered in the girl's ear: "are you ready?" Jenny nodded and Vastra slowly pulled her hands away.
It was beautiful. Utterly beautiful. As Jenny's eyes scanned over every inch of the room she felt her heart rate increase and her mouth went dry. She didn't understand how Vastra had done it in such a short period of time but it was the most amazing thing she had ever seen.
"What 'ave you done?" she asked, mesmerised. "What on earth 'ave you done you wonderful, beautiful lizard?"
"Do you like it?"
There were simply no words in Jenny's vocabulary that would accurately express the pure elation that she was feeling in that moment. Vastra had finished the nursery all by herself and it was entirely stunning. The walls were white as snow and on the ground the usual dark wooden panelling had been newly polished to offset the white off the walls. All along the base of the walls reaching up a third of their height were delicate patterns in gold paint that appeared to have been hand painted and there was something unearthly about each one that mesmerised Jenny as she attempted to figure out what they were supposed to be. The furniture that they had had made was all spread nicely around the room in exactly the places that Jenny had wanted them (despite Vastra's disagreement on the crib) and to Jenny it was just perfect. Slowly the girl walked around the room, noticing how Aria's toys and other belongings had been placed here and there and when she opened the wardrobe she even spotted a few new dresses that she knew she had not bought for her daughter. Jenny walked a circuit of the room before she thought she could find the words to express herself but when she finally answered Vastra her response was hardly inspired, much to her dismay.
"I love it." Jenny didn't know how but at some point while she had been surveying the nursery a grin had spread across her face and for some reason she simply couldn't get rid of it. Trying to think of something, anything that she could do or say to express her gratitude the girl threw her arms around the Silurian's neck and she kissed her deeply, giggling as Vastra lifted her from the floor slightly so that she wouldn't have to lean down to match Jenny's miniature height. "'ow the 'ell did you find the time to do all of this?"
"I did not waste my time while you were not talking to me love. This was going to be a form of apology but I decided against it in the end, I thought words held more meaning." Vastra set Jenny down on the floor gently but she kept her arms wrapped tightly around the girl's waist. The smile had faded slightly on Jenny's face but she didn't struggle to be released. She didn't like thinking about that week that she had spent pushing Vastra away and the Silurian knew it. They had put all of their issues behind them, of course, but that didn't change the fact that, to some extent, thinking about their fall out hurt. "I am sorry my love, I did not mean to..."
"Don't be daft," the girl's dark eyes lowered slightly, "things are different now. We're stronger. We've got past all that rubbish, 'aven't we?" Vastra nodded her head slightly and Jenny snuggled into her embrace, resting her head on her love's shoulder. "This is one o' the most amazin' things anyone's ever done for me..."
"Is that so? Because, I do have one more surprise for you."
"Nothin' could surprise me more than this." The smirk that graced Vastra's features worried and excited Jenny but still she allowed the woman to take hold of her hand once more and lead her out of the nursery. She wondered what else the Silurian could possibly have planned that could be better than the surprise she had already given her. "Vastra, where are you takin' me?" The girl tugged at the other woman's hand lightly but she received no response. It unnerved her a little when Vastra got all quiet like that. Of course the woman was naturally a lot quieter than Jenny was herself but usually when she refused to answer the girl's questions it either meant that she was up to no good or trying to make Jenny believe that that was the case. "Ma'am?"
"Stop asking so many questions my love, just trust me. And less of the ma'am if you don't mind; unless, of course..." The Silurian stopped walking for a second and looked back over her shoulder at Jenny, winking once. Her smirk widened as she noticed the flush that crept into her darling girl's cheeks and she chuckled to herself quietly. Vastra had always loved how easily Jenny got flustered. She found it adorable how the girl's beautiful cheeks would redden and she would not be able to keep eye contact for more than a few seconds. Victorian propriety really was quite the source of entertainment.
Beginning to walk once more Vastra pulled Jenny by the hand, leading her down the stairs to the ground floor, across the hall, through the sitting room and into the dining room. The entire way through the house Jenny was astonished to find that everything seemed to be in its place and there wasn't even the smallest sign of baby related mess to be seen. It occurred to the girl that, rather than continuing with her work as Jenny had assumed she would, Vastra must have spent the whole time that she had been sleeping cleaning up the mess that the house had been in. Quite frankly the maid was astonished. She knew full well that Vastra was not the sort to do her own cleaning and tidying but the Silurian had clearly gone out of her way to spend her afternoon doing just that and Jenny's heart was practically bursting with love at the mere thought of it. However, as she found herself stood just over the threshold of the dining room all thoughts were wiped from the girl's mind and she simply stood for a moment surveying the dining table before her. Usually Jenny didn't bother with decorating the table for dinner for the mere fact that she knew how messy Vastra was as an eater and quite frankly she did not want to make more work for herself than was necessary, but Vastra had gone all out. A crisp, white table cloth was spread over the length of the dining table and down the middle the Silurian had laid a deep red runner to make the table cloth seem even whiter. There were two places set out with the best china and silverware (apparently enough for three courses) and Jenny couldn't help but notice that, rather than setting one place at the head of the table where Vastra usually sat and one by her side for Jenny the Silurian had set the places facing one another. In the centre of the table there was a crystal decanter containing what appeared to be wine (although, of course, Jenny couldn't be sure) with two matching glasses to one side of it and to the other a vase containing the most beautiful white roses in full bloom that made the room smell divine.
"Oh my..." Surely Vastra hadn't done what Jenny thought she had. She knew that the woman's intentions were good but had she really cooked a meal for her? Obviously the girl loved that her dear lizard had gone to so much trouble for her, and that she had somehow managed to better her last surprise by a mile, but if Jenny's suspicions were right then she was not sure how the next hour or so would go.
"Sit."
"I feel underdressed... Vastra, you could 'ave warned me. My 'air's a mess an' I'm still in my work clothes."
"You look beautiful." Jenny snorted lightly and blushed ever so slightly. She certainly didn't feel beautiful. If she had known that Vastra had made their home look so much like a high class restaurant she would have dressed up a little for the occasion – as it was she hadn't even opted to wear a corset that day and she could suddenly feel all of the extra baby weight hanging around her stomach heavily.
"Give me a minute, let me go an' get changed."
"Darling, there is really no need." Pressing one hand into the small of Jenny's back and taking the girl's hand in the other Vastra carefully guided her to her seat and, briefly kissing Jenny's hand, the Silurian released her grip and whispered, "I'll be right back" before disappearing through the door that lead down to the kitchen. Jenny was left to sit in silence.
Almost as soon as Vastra had gone Jenny began pulling the pins from her hair and, peering into the looking glass that was hung over the fire, she tried to neaten up the tight bun that she had styled her hair in during the early hours of that morning. She knew that Vastra had said that she needn't bother but it made Jenny feel better to at least try and make an effort. There were loose strands of hair falling down from her bun all over the place and, sighing in frustration Jenny tried her best to get as many of them up as she possibly could. She couldn't help but notice as her eyes scanned her reflection that she looked far too pale for her liking (probably from the lack of sleep) and, once she was partially satisfied with the state of her hair, she began to pinch her cheeks in an attempt to bring at least a little colour to them. Just as she was about to tighten her belt to make her feel a little better about her lack of a corset, however, the door from the kitchen swung open and Vastra re-emerged from it carrying two small bowls and the girl's hands dropped back into her lap so quickly that the Silurian didn't have even the slightest chance of noticing what she had been doing.
As Vastra made her way into the room Jenny tried to suppress a giggle at how slowly the woman was walking, her eyes fixed on the bowls as though she was expecting the contents to leap over the sides at any minute and make a break for it. It brought to mind all of the times when Jenny had first started working for the Silurian as her maid and Vastra had been so impatient that she had shouted down to the kitchen over and over again about how she was famished and wished that Jenny would hurry up. A few times the girl considered mimicking the way that her love had moaned about her slow pace all that time ago but, knowing that Vastra was trying to do something nice for her, she decided against it, that is right up until the moment that the bowl had been laid down in front of her and Vastra had taken her own seat.
"Oh darlin', you really didn't 'ave to go to all o' this trouble." Jenny was trying her best not to show her trepidation but as she looked down into the contents of the bowl she felt her heart sink slightly. It was clearly some sort of soup that Vastra had attempted to make but rather than looking appetising the girl found that, in fact, it looked more like a bowl of dirty dish water than an actual meal. She looked up from her bowl to find Vastra smiling at her expectantly and, realising that the Silurian was waiting for her to taste it, she hesitantly dipped her spoon into the murky liquid and lifted it to her lips.
"Well...?" Jenny was trying to keep the smile on her face but as the soup slipped down her throat she knew that she was going to have a hard time pretending that Vastra had done a good job. She didn't know how the Silurian had managed it but all Jenny could taste was the flavour of burning and she really had to focus on her self control to avoid immediately taking a large gulp of wine to clear the taste away. Vastra's hopeful blue eyes were still fixed on her and the expression on the woman's face reminded Jenny of how the Doctor had looked the morning that they had sent him away – so eager to please.
"Well, it's certainly interestin'. I... I like it... although, I may 'ave done it a little differently myself. Not that I'm saying it's not good! You've tried really 'ard love, and I'm very proud o' you. You've done a good job." Jenny cursed herself in her head. She knew that she could have been more convincing, she just really didn't want to lie to Vastra. It was clear that the Silurian had picked up on the uncertainty in her compliments as the woman frowned at her slightly and, taking her own spoon, tried a bit herself. Only a second had passed once the soup had touched Vastra's tongue, however, when she pulled a rather disgusted face and forced herself to swallow, retching slightly. She reached for her glass immediately and drank half of the contents in one gulp.
"Urgh, please tell me you were lying to protect my feelings dear... I would be worried if I thought you actually enjoyed that!" For a split second Jenny was silent but as Vastra caught her eye she began to giggle, covering her mouth with her hand so as not to seem too undignified.
"You 'ave no idea 'ow glad I am to 'ear you say that! I didn't know 'ow to tell you but that was probably the worst thing I've ever tasted in my life, an' I used to live in poverty so that's sayin' somethin'." Vastra had joined the girl as she laughed and as she slowly began to get her breath back the Silurian leant her elbows on the table and placed her head in her hands. She shook her head slightly from side to side as she took a few deep breaths and finally sighed as she straightened up once more.
"I am sorry my love, I did try my best. I do not think that preparing human food is really my forte."
"You think?" Jenny was still giggling into her hand and Vastra smiled as she watched her sweet little human girl closely. "What else did you 'ave lined up to eat? Please tell me it weren't a meat dish, you might 'ave poisoned me!"
"Perhaps you should help me with the next course then," Vastra suggested sheepishly, knowing full well that she had been planning on serving meat, "you could teach me how to cook it properly?" Jenny simply shook her head.
"Y'know, as lovely as this all is – an' it really was a lovely idea – I'm surprisingly not all that 'ungry... ma'am" Vastra parted her lips to argue that the girl had to eat something but just as she was about to speak it occurred to her just what Jenny was suggesting. For a moment she didn't know what to say. Jenny had raised one of her eyebrows and was grinning at Vastra in that mischievous way of hers, the grin that she always painted on her pretty features when she was suggesting anything even remotely improper to the Silurian. Vastra could feel her heart racing in her chest and under the table Jenny gently brushed her leg against Vastra's own. The contact alone was enough to urge Vastra on and she pushed her chair back from the table, beckoning with one finger for Jenny to join her.
"Come here." Jenny smirked but for a moment she didn't move. She wanted to tease Vastra a little first. Before Aria had come along the Silurian had barely been able to go a day without pulling Jenny up to bed or pressing her up against a wall when she was least expecting it but it had been so long since the two had been together properly (what with the pregnancy and all of their arguing) that Jenny wondered how much suggestion her love could take before she couldn't restrain herself any longer.
Reaching up to the back of her head Jenny slowly began removing the pins from her hair, watching Vastra's reaction as curl after curl of dark hair fell down over the girl's shoulders and found its way to framing Jenny's face. She noticed how the Silurian's eyes would flick from curl to curl as each one fell and smiled to herself slightly at the hungry, lustful look in the cerulean depths. Jenny knew how much Vastra loved her hair. It was one of the few aspects of physical appearance that the two women did not share and Vastra had made no secret of her fascination and adoration of the long tendrils that grew from her darling girl's head. The Silurian's eyes flashed slightly as the last curl fell out of place and as Jenny placed the last pin down on the table Vastra beckoned her over once more.
"Jenny, be a good girl and come to me."
"Yes ma'am." Jenny slid from her seat, careful to take her time as she did so. Every move that the girl made was painfully slow for Vastra and as the Silurian watched Jenny beginning to make her way around to the other side of the table she hissed irritably at her choice to take the longest rout possible. The girl's fingers trailed over the back of each chair that she passed and Vastra watched her progress closely as Jenny first moved further from her before turning back towards her once more. The Silurian could feel herself losing her composure with every second that Jenny dragged out her approach and before the girl had made it even half way back down the length of the table Vastra had stood and gone to meet the girl half way.
"You, Miss Flint, are a shameless tease." The Silurian wrapped her arms around Jenny's waist and pulled her body tightly against her own, leaning her face down so that the women's lips were barely parted. A slight squeak broke free from the back of Jenny's throat at the sudden closeness and the strength of Vastra's grip, and she giggled softly at the look in the other woman's eyes.
"Well, I'll admit to that if teasin' you gets you to grab me like this every time I do it"
"Even if you were not to admit it my love it would still be true." Taking her chance Vastra saw her own grip on Jenny as an opportunity to do a bit of teasing herself and, kicking a chair out of her way, the Silurian lifted her sweet girl into her arms before gently laying her down over the unoccupied end of the table and pinning her arms down over her head. "Shall we see how you like to be teased?"
"Wh..." Just as Jenny was about to speak Vastra's lips came down on her own and the girl's words were swallowed up in a soft moan. The women's heads twisted and turned, this way and that but whenever Vastra thought that Jenny was getting a little too eager she would pull away until she was just out of the girl's reach leaving Jenny to groaning in displeasure and wriggle to free herself from the Silurian's iron grip. Five times Jenny had gotten too carried away and five times Vastra had pulled away from her before the girl said anything and she pouted as she moaned, "What is it you want, an apology? I'm sorry, okay? I'm so sorry, but please let me touch you... please!" Jenny tried to pull her hands free for the sixth time and, finally, Vastra loosened her grip just enough to let the girl slide her hands free.
Immediately, Jenny's hands seemed to be everywhere and Vastra had to climb on top of her just to keep her control of the situation. The girl kissed her deeply over and over, her warm fingers trailing down the length of the Silurian's neck and over her collar bones while Vastra began to pull at Jenny's dress. They were like animals in heat – clearly it had been far too long since their last encounter.
~.~.~.~.~.~
Neither of them knew how long it had been but as Vastra and Jenny both lay on the dining room floor later that evening, curled up together and completely naked, quite frankly neither of them cared. It had been a while since they had tired from making love but still neither of them had any wish to move, both entirely content in their current state. Jenny's head was resting lightly on Vastra's shoulder and she was humming quietly to herself as she drew pictures across the Silurian's stomach with the tips of her fingers. She had never felt more at peace.
"Vastra?" Jenny was the first to break the silence since they had both collapsed where they were, panting and exhausted, and Vastra stirred from her half dozing state as she heard the girl saying her name.
"Mhmm?"
"Ask me what I'm thinkin'." For a moment Jenny paused in her invisible drawing and she tilted her head up slightly so that she could just see Vastra's face out of the corner of her eye. The Silurian's breath had hitched uncomfortably for a second and Jenny could just about make out a frown on the woman's face as she slowly began to open her eyes.
"Pardon?"
"Ask me what I'm thinkin'." Vastra's frown deepened as Jenny repeated her request and silence fell between them once more. What was the girl talking about? Vastra was sure that one of the first things that Jenny had taught her about ape culture was that one should never expect to be given access to another individual's private thoughts. So why did Jenny want her to ask for such information so badly? At first the Silurian was hesitant – perhaps Jenny was testing her, attempting to figure out how much Vastra actually listened to her, but somehow it seemed unlikely.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Love." For a short while Jenny didn't speak again and Vastra grew more confused by the girl's silence than she had been by her request. Clearly Jenny must have had some reason for wanting Vastra to ask. What was she missing? Playing with a long strand of the girl's hair between her fingers Vastra tried to imagine how a human mind would work. She imagined that they would be rather unorganised in their thought process, although in Jenny's case she wasn't so sure. The girl was organised enough in her outward approach to life so would that mean that her mind worked in the same way? Perhaps, but realistically there was no way of her knowing for sure. "Do Silurian couples ever make proper commitments to one another?"
"Jenny, what on earth are you talking about?" Vastra was growing rather weary of the girl's vagueness and as Jenny sat up and turned to face her she propped herself up on her elbows, attempting not to look too annoyed. The Silurian was slightly surprised to find that, while facing her, Jenny seemed reluctant to make eye contact and even as she sat up herself and took the girl's hand in her own Jenny only allowed herself to look at the other woman's lips. "Darling, is everything okay?"
"O' course, I'm fine, just answer the question." Honestly, Vastra wasn't convinced. She could see that Jenny had been chewing her lip as she always did when she was thinking hard about something. Joining that hint with the fact that the girl wouldn't look at her the Silurian couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive. Nevertheless, she thought it best to answer Jenny's question in the hope that it may all make sense in time.
"Well," she began, "I suppose that would depend on what you mean by a proper commitment. We find our mate through a system of trial and error, much like humans, but very few find a mate who they will stay with for the rest of their lives." Jenny nodded but still she didn't seem satisfied. Her grip on Vastra's hand was tight and the Silurian couldn't help but notice that the girl's body temperature had increased a little from its usual heat.
"I know that. You've told me that before. What I mean is," for a second Jenny paused as though she didn't know how best to approach the subject she wished to discuss, "the ones who do find a mate they want to stay with – do they ever 'ave ceremonies to show 'ow much they mean to each other or..."
"You mean, like a human marriage?" Raising a scaled eyebrow Vastra curled the fingers of her free hand under the girl's chin and she gently tilted Jenny's head up to face her. The girl looked nervous and Vastra wondered if her darling human was asking what she believed she was. "Of course we do. Jenny, are you...?"
"Marry me..." Vastra hadn't even had the chance to ask her question but Jenny answered it anyway. The Silurian could barely believe it. She had known that she wanted to spend her life with Jenny from the very first time they had kissed but never in her wildest dreams had she considered that Jenny would want to make that commitment so soon. However, despite wanting to say yes, she was still a little hesitant.
"Darling, are you sure that..."
"I'm more sure than I've been about anythin' else in my life. I aint sayin' we 'ave to do it right away love, I just 'ad to ask. I've been wantin' to for a long time already but it never felt like the right time until now." The way that the girl looked up at Vastra with those big, beautiful, dark eyes fixed on her own made the Silurian shiver slightly and she felt her heart rate quicken. As Vastra allowed her gaze to drop a little the corners of her lips quirked up into a small smile and she curled her hand around the back of Jenny's neck, pulling the girl closer so that their foreheads were pressed together.
"I love you" the Silurian whispered.
"But will you marry me?" Chuckling softly Vastra pulled Jenny into her lap and kissed her so deeply and passionately that the girl had to pull herself away in order to breathe.
"Of course."